The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

THE expected sentencing of a man convicted of the paid execution of a banker has been delayed a third time.

In yesterday’s proceedings before Justice Roy Jones, 23-year-old Janaldo Farrington was told the probation officer was not available for the sentencing and the matter would have to be adjourned.

Farrington was initially scheduled to be sentenced last November to learn his punishment for the murder of Stephen Sherman, having been found unanimously guilty by a jury a little more than a month prior.

However, the matter was adjourned to January 23, last month, to allow his lawyer, Murrio Ducille, more time to review the probation report.

Last month, Mr Ducille was in the Court of Appeal and the judge was presiding over a trial.

Farrington’s new sentencing date is March 19.

Mr Sherman, an assistant manager at the Royal Bank of Canada in Palmdale, was shot in the head when he pulled up to his Yamacraw Shores home on the evening of February 17, 2012.

He was robbed of his cell phone before being shot. His niece, who was in the car with him, was also robbed.

Renee Sherman, his wife, along with Farrington and Cordero Bethel, both of Pinewood Gardens, were charged with conspiring to commit murder.

Farrington and Bethel were together charged with his murder and the two armed robberies while the widow was charged with aiding and abetting the murder of her husband. All three denied the charges.

During trial, the widow and Bethel were acquitted of their respective charges on the direction of the judge, leaving only Farrington to answer to the charges against him because of a confession that he gave to the police on February 24, 2012.

On October 8, 2013, before excusing the jury to deliberate on a verdict for the four counts Farrington faced, Justice Roy Jones told the 12-member jury that “the case stands and falls on your acceptance or rejection of the confession statement”.

Having deliberated on the evidence in the case for three hours, the jury returned with the unanimous guilty verdicts on the two charges and a third charge of armed robbery concerning Mr Sherman.

The jury was split 8-4 on the other armed robbery charge concerning Sherman’s niece, but the majority guilty verdict was accepted.